Camp As Sayliyah
The allies the U.S. brought out, and left waiting.
Camp As Sayliyah is a U.S.-managed transit facility outside Doha, Qatar, that has housed vetted Afghan wartime allies since the fall of Kabul in August 2021. More than four years later, 1,039 of them remain, waiting on a promise the United States made and has not kept. The camp is set to close on September 30, 2026, and no decision has been made to bring them here.
Last updated July 30, 2026
Who is inside CAS
Not asylum-seekers. People the U.S. recruited and depended on.
CAS residents are people the U.S. government recruited, employed, and depended on in a war zone, and their immediate families.
- ✓Interpreters and translators for U.S. troops and diplomats
- ✓Afghan special-operations partners who fought beside coalition forces
- ✓Combat medics, drivers, and logistics staff
- ✓Embassy, base, and mission support personnel
- ✓Family of active-duty U.S. servicemembers
- ✓Women and children, 752 of the 1,039, more than seven in ten
433 of the 1,039 are children. 752 are women and children. 150 are the immediate family of active-duty U.S. servicemembers. All figures confirmed as of July 29, 2026.
The plan on the table · NYT, April 21, 2026
The administration wants to send them to the Congo.
The New York Times reported that the administration is in talks to send the Afghan allies at Camp As Sayliyah, including U.S. military interpreters, former Afghan Special Operations forces, 150 family members of active-duty U.S. servicemembers, and 433 children, to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As reported, residents would face a choice between the DRC and return to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
That is not a choice. It is coercion.
The reality of the DRC
The DRC is the world's second-largest refugee crisis. It is in active armed conflict with Rwanda. It already hosts more than 600,000 refugees it cannot support. Asking Afghan women, children, commandos, and interpreters to choose between a country at war and a country that will hunt them is not resettlement policy. It is abdication dressed up as diplomacy.
Update, late July 2026. Third-country negotiations now appear largely stalled. The one exception is Kosovo, which may take about 500 people from the base. No resident has been vetted, screened, or asked to go.
There is one real path forward. Bring them here.
Why the DRC proposal is the wrong answer
Four reasons it fails
It is unsafe
The DRC is in active conflict, facing a cross-border war with Rwanda, attacks on existing refugee camps, and one of the largest displacement crises on the planet. Moving Afghan families there is a holding pattern with worse conditions and fewer protections than the ones they are already in.
It is coercive
Residents are being presented with two options no reasonable person would accept, designed to produce the outcome the administration cannot achieve openly: forcing Afghan allies back to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
It is operationally unserious
American diplomats have reportedly spent months approaching multiple African countries, and most of those talks have fallen apart. There is a reason for that, and it is not the fault of the host countries.
It is morally indefensible
752 of the people at CAS are women and children, including 433 children and 20 pregnant women. 150 are immediate family members of active-duty U.S. servicemembers. These are not strangers. They are our people.
The promise, an obligation and not charity
Two pathways Congress built to keep America's word.
The United States recruited, vetted, and transported the people now at CAS, and Congress created two legal pathways, on a bipartisan basis, precisely to honor that commitment. Relocating them is not an act of generosity or a question of immigration policy. It is the fulfillment of a promise made in exchange for their service and risk. Most have already cleared the majority of the screening required for admission.
Congressionally created for Afghans who worked directly for, or on behalf of, the U.S. government for a qualifying period, interpreters above all. Leads to lawful permanent residence, a green card.
Priority-1 (individually referred) and Priority-2 (group designation for at-risk Afghans who worked with U.S. missions, NGOs, or media). Confers refugee status.
Where things stand now
Simply waiting, with no processing in either pipeline.
292 have already been denied
Of the 1,039 guests, 292 have already been denied: 87 men, 76 women, 76 boys, and 53 girls. That is 129 children who have been told no while still held at the camp.
State has not engaged
State Department leadership working this issue have not been out to Camp As Sayliyah. There remains no apparent appetite for welcoming these allies, even the families of U.S. servicemembers, into the United States.
No pathway forward
No processing is occurring in either pipeline. USRAP has been suspended since January 20, 2025, and zero SIVs have been issued since January 2026.
A protection gap
The Senate NDAA transfer ban, Section 1088, covers only Department of Defense funds. But DoD has not run CAS since September 2023. The State Department has. As written, it would not stop a transfer.
Third-country talks stalled
Reporting tied the administration to relocating residents to third countries rather than the United States. As of late July 2026, those talks appear largely stalled, with Kosovo the lone exception, potentially taking about 500 people. No resident was vetted, screened, or asked.
Litigation over the refugee ban
Pacito v. Trump, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington and now before the Ninth Circuit, challenges the January 20, 2025 order suspending USRAP, the pipeline roughly 800 CAS residents are in. Early injunctions have narrowed on appeal. As of 2026, the government must keep funding domestic resettlement but is not required to process previously approved refugees.
Track it at IRAP →Litigation over the SIV delays
Afghan and Iraqi Allies v. Rubio (D.D.C., No. 1:18-cv-01388), before Judge Tanya Chutkan, forces the government to keep deciding long-delayed SIV cases on court-ordered timelines and to report progress every 90 days. It does not reopen new SIV processing.
Track it at IRAP →The clock
The safety situation
Families who fled the Taliban are now sheltering from missile debris.
The security environment around Camp As Sayliyah has deteriorated again. With renewed Iranian airstrikes on U.S. assets in the region, the base sits in the flight path between Iran and Al Udeid Air Base, and interceptions are once again happening overhead. Families at the camp have reported:
- ×Missile intercepts overhead
- ×Military activity in close proximity
- ×Debris entering living spaces, including near children
To date, no one at the camp has been injured by falling debris. But these families, who fled the Taliban, do not have hardened shelter comparable to U.S. personnel in the region. The protections are not sufficient, and the risk is immediate.
What we have been saying, for over a year
This was not a failure of awareness.
We did not discover this problem on March 31. We documented it, escalated it, and warned about it at every stage as it developed.
How Congress can help
Four things, without delay
- Press State and the administration for a decision, and for relocation to the United States.
- Close the NDAA gap. Section 1088 must reach the State Department funds that actually run CAS.
- Send letters, ask hearing questions, and co-sponsor protective language.
- Then follow through. Oversight is not resolution.
The United States assumed responsibility for these families when it brought them into U.S.-managed transit. That responsibility has not changed. This mission has always been bipartisan, and it must remain so. Anyone who frames it otherwise is choosing to play politics with people's lives.
Our commitment
We are not walking away from our mission partners.
We will keep pushing for solutions that move people to safety, uphold U.S. commitments, and restore credibility to this effort. We can still get this right. It will require urgency, clarity, and action.
For media inquiries or to connect with impacted families, contact press@afghanevac.org.